Absurdity of ‘Thinking in Language’ (The)
“…we think in or with language…” Pause. I’m trying to do this now.
Holy Tears
I’ve heard of Holy laughter … now how is this different?
Take Nothing for the Journey: A Fresh Look at Church Health
I like the twist on the ABCs –> “The currency in use for measuring church growth has been the ABCs.. attendance, buildings, and cash. If a church has these in measure and expanding, it has been considered fruitful. But these are entirely secular values, imported from the business world in a capitalist and consumer culture. A biblical set of ABCs would look different: perhaps authenticity, belonging, and cultivating Christ. If God’s end goal is Jesus, if his purpose is to form people into the image of His Son, then transformation, formation resulting in new identity and new practices, must be at the core of ekklesial health.”
Interview with Barbara Brown- PBS (via Len)
I heard one of her sermons online and it was amazing. She makes me think deeper with phrases like this: “Doubt? Oh sure, sure. Here’s the way I presently live with doubt. Doubt often brings me to poke at what I believe, and when it topples, I realize that was an idol. And so doubt and disillusionment have been the divine gifts that have led me deeper into who God is. …That’s what I meant earlier about faith as trust. It’s not certainty that I’ve got a hold of something that won’t move. It’s a willingness to keep walking into the next day, open to whatever may turn out to be true that day.”
vocation, obscurity, the search for self
Perhaps some of us prefer to have the answers on a platter? Growing requires a different approach. “Just as God doesn’t spell out the answers in text-book fashion but instead invites us into the story, so he doesn’t offer us our identity on a platter. Instead, he gives us clues.. and invites us to journey with him in the process of discovery. He invites us to wrestle with him.. to sweat, labor, and dig.
Good reminder Jason! “…to know Jesus, to know what christianity is really truely about, is only possible by active participation in the life of a community of believers, and not by learning propostional truths/facts about Christianity (even if we affirm there are propostional truths about Christianity). And in terms of others finding out about christianity, our best apologetic (and often our worst!), is the community that live around their faith.”